Are You The One?
Written by: CherryDrug
Disclaimer: Katekyo Hitman Reborn doesn't belong to us. If it did, we would have shipped anybody with everybody, and the series wouldn't be as dead as it was now. Thank freaking sprite for fan fiction having not died yet.
Rating: T-rated, 'cause we're still a bunch of pussies who can't put on their big girl panties and publish a smutty chapter
Genre: *slaps every genre here*
Characters: Everybody. Duh
Summary: It has been said long ago that actions speak louder than words ever could; however, when you live in a world where the first thing your soulmate says to you is etched upon your skin—well, suffice to say, actions don't even hold a candle to how important words can be.
Pairing(s) (for this chapter): Tsuna/Kyoko, Tsuna/Hana, Kyoko/Hana
Warnings: Alternate Universe where people bear soul-identifying marks; yaoi AKA boy x boy in the future; All27; drabble series
CHAPTER 9
Words don't really matter, unless they're on your skin.
"How many soulmarks do you have?"
That one question makes Tsuna stiffen up, the hand that cradles a bright yellow crayon instantly stopping as an expression of surprise flickers across his features before it's replaced with uneasiness and nervousness.
Kyoko and Hana exchange looks of confusion, before they turn to look at the brown haired boy who has already dropped the crayon onto the sheet of paper he'd been coloring on and was now sitting straight up and looking back at them.
It's already been a week since they'd been introduced to one another, since they'd become friends. They've found out a lot of interesting things about one another during this course, more so with Tsuna with Kyoko and Hana and vice-versa instead of Kyoko with Hana and vice-versa considering that they've been best friends for a long time.
The girls know that Tsuna had a magnet that attracted bullies, and they've been trying their best to ward off the bullies by either politely telling them to back off (Kyoko) or bluntly telling them to back off or I'll tell (Hana). They also know that Tsuna's favorite color is orange, that he likes sweet candy compared to sour ones, and that he really isn't that smart, considering that he still doesn't know the complete order of the Hiragana set.
Tsuna knows that Kyoko isn't all that perfect because she too can be clumsy, and that she's not all smiles and laughs because she shows that she's truly worried about her older brother who'd just recently gotten into a fight with one of his classmates and also because she finds a girl in their class annoying but tries to hide it because it's not proper to blurt her annoyance out loud; whereas towards Hana, Tsuna sees that the black haired girl can be kind as well, and that she's really smart since she already knows how to multiply and divide of all things, and that Hana is only rude because she easily gets headaches when her surroundings get too noisy.
Tsuna knows Kyoko likes the color pink, whilst Hana likes the color white because it's easy to pair it off with any other color and it looks simple yet classy; he knows that both girls like wearing skirts, and that both like sweet things as well, most preferably cake or ice cream. And, surprise surprise, he knows that both girls aren't really all that fond of hard candy, but like mint candy because it's refreshing to the mouth, according to them.
But over the course of the week, Tsuna's been avoiding to answer this one particular expression, and both girls are beginning to grow tired and weary of his stubbornness.
"I have seven of them, you know," Kyoko starts over offhandedly, and Tsuna snaps his brown gaze over to hers, and the girl gives him a radiant smile. "You already know where yours and Hana's are, so I don't think I'll have to tell you where they are," she says, giggling. "I have one on my back, one around my right arm, one around my left wrist, one on my right thigh, and the last one on my chest," Kyoko says, patting the area where her heart should be beating under. "So far, I've only found you and Hana-chan," she adds with a beam.
The silence that occupies after that is unavoidable, and Tsuna squirms in his seat, uncomfortable and tense.
"Why are you telling me this?" He asks in a quiet voice, his gaze lowering to the ground.
Kyoko's face softens at that; Hana can't help but snort at how pitiful he looks right now. He looks like a puppy that's been kicked over and over again.
"Because I trust Tsuna-kun," Kyoko says, confident with her answer, and Tsuna lifts his head to stare up at her. "And I'm proud of my soulmarks," she says, raising her chin. "I don't really care how many I have. I'm just happy that I have a lot of people who I'm bonded with," she continues naively, and Tsuna turns his gaze away from her, feeling a bitter feeling well up inside of him.
She can't possible understand the pain of being bullied. She has sevensoulmates; whilst he has twenty six of them. She can easily cover her soulmarks; whilst he already has trouble with the warm clothes that he has to wear to hide every single one of them. She's pretty and kind and popular; whilst he's dumb and ugly and basically useless.
How can she ever understand the shame of having that many soulmarks? How can she ever understand the pain of being bullied because of the words that are littered across his entire body?
"I have that many soulmarks too," Hana butts in, destroying his train of thought, and Tsuna looks up at her from where he is on the ground.
"Huh?" He says, blinking a few times to regain his sense of time, and feeling a little bit lost. He'd gone far too deep in his daydreaming again...
"Soulmarks. I have seven of them, like Kyoko does," Hana explains, looking annoyed, and Tsuna mentally flails. An annoyed Hana is never really a good thing, despite how common it is. "But unlike her, I've been bullied about it before," she suddenly says, and Tsuna's eyes widens at that little, no, humungous, detail. "I'm not from Namimori, if you must know. My mom and I moved here from Kyoto. And let's just say that the people there aren't really all that nice to people with more than six soulmarks," she says, looking sad and irritated and just plain bitter.
Tsuna's eyes take on a shine, because finally, he's finally met someone who's just like him. Bullied. Estranged by society itself. Treated as an outcast because of the number of marks on their body.
"But I've learned to ignore them," Hana says coolly. "Because their words don't matter to me. It's the ones on me that do matter. I don't have to listen to them, because they will never understand the feeling of having so many people who'll love you," she says. "That's why you have to be proud of your words, because it shows the number of people who'll love you for who you really are," she finally concludes as she crosses her arms, and looks away.
Tsuna sees her ears becoming a little pink, but doesn't comment on that, lest he unleashes the ire of one Kurokawa Hana.
There is a brief period of silence that hovers over them once again.
It's Tsuna that breaks it this time. "I..." He starts off, sounds and looking the part of reluctancy. "I trust you guys," he says, and he doesn't even miss the way their faces just light up. "But I need you guys to pr-promise me to never, as in never ever, tell this to anybody else," he says, twiddling with his fingers and bottom lips.
Both Kyoko and Hana nod eagerly in reply, with the former saying it loudly with the whole pinky swears and crossing hearts.
Tsuna looks at two of them with an uncharacteristically serious face; before he takes in a very deep breath and finally answers.
"I have twenty six soulmarks."
Word Count: 1440
